


in love and war

by beta_babelfish



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff and Crack, M/M, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff, basically kihyuk get too competitive about valentine's day and it gets out of hand, not beta'ed we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-04 16:02:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17901194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beta_babelfish/pseuds/beta_babelfish
Summary: “Um.” Jooheon begins, “I’m like. Really sure that Valentine’s day isn’t supposed to be a competition.”“That’s exactly what he wants you to think,” Minhyuk says through gritted teeth as he furiously slathers “I ♡ KIHYUN” onto the gigantic cake in bright pink icing.Or, Kihyun and Minhyuk get competitive about Valentine's day. Jooheon thinks they're both idiots.





	in love and war

**Author's Note:**

> yes i'm AWARE that this is over a week late and Valentine's Day came and went but we're going to ignore that fact it's scorpio bitch twins time
> 
> also this is really dumb sorry not sorry

“Bastard.” Minhyuk hisses under his breath.

On his desk, in front of all the kids rambunctiously talking and laughing before class (with many of them shooting glances towards said desk and whispering to their friends), is what is quite frankly an atrocious amount of flowers.

Roses, violets, daffodils, and any number of others Minhyuk didn’t recognize - along with a card, placed neatly on the desk with them.

Minhyuk is already well aware of the name that is written inside.

“Um,” Jooheon says, peering into the window at the blooming monstrosity, “I don’t think that’s the typical reaction to getting flowers from your boyfriend on Valentine’s day?”

“Kihyun’s doing this on purpose,” Minhyuk grumbles, still glaring daggers at the abundance of flowers.

Jooheon raises his eyebrows. “That’s how Valentine’s surprises work, as far as I know.”

“He thinks he can win this.” Minhyuk announces, completely ignoring his fellow teacher’s words. “But he won’t. He can never win.”

“Minhyuk, I don’t like where you’re going with this -”

“Hold this.” Minhyuk says, shoving his bag of teaching materials into Jooheon’s arms and stalking a little ways down the hall, aggressively punching numbers into his phone. Jooheon stares as he paces back and forth, talking rapidly into the phone, before Minhyuk finally nods, hangs up, and walks back over triumphantly.

“Kihyun will be finding a gigantic teddy bear when he arrives to work this morning. It’ll take up his entire office,” Minhyuk informs Jooheon with a grin on his face.

“Did you bribe Changkyun?” Jooheon says tiredly.

“I absolutely did.”

Jooheon sighs and shakes his head as the bell rings. “You’ve been dating for three years, but I’m not even going to pretend to understand your relationship.”

“All’s fair in love and war, Jooheonie,” Minhyuk calls behind his back as he swings open the classroom door and disappears inside.

Jooheon stares after him for a moment, then grumbles under his breath, “Fucking Scorpios.”

* * *

The second offense is Hyunwoo.

It’s lunchtime - Minhyuk is whistling happily, still looking triumphant from the teddy bear stunt from that morning.

Jooheon really should have known that it had only just begun.

“Have you heard anything from Kihyun?” he asks as he sits next to Minhyuk, who is currently tearing into his lunch.

“Yeah, he sent me a picture of the teddy bear in his office and was like, ‘really’ in all lowercase and no punctuation, so you just _know_ it got to him.” Minhyuk says, voice muffled from the food stuffed in his mouth.

“Why are you doing this, again?” Jooheon sighs as he tucks in to his own food.

Minhyuk swallows his kimbap and burps before saying, “I told him that my present was going to be better than his, then Kihyun said no way, then I told him to fight me and he was like ‘I’m the king of being romantic,’ then I said we’ll see about that, and now here we are.”

Jooheon stares for a moment, then shakes his head. “You’re both idiots.”

“Well, yeah, but-”

“Hey, Minhyuk?”

Jooheon and Minhyuk both start and turn around to see Hyunwoo, the school’s principal (and their good friend) standing behind them, shifting from foot to foot awkwardly.

Minhyuk, the monster he is, shoves another piece of kimbap into his mouth and says, chewing noisily, “What’s up, Hyunwoo.”

Hyunwoo clears his throat, looking a bit like he’d rather be anywhere else. “I’ve, uh, got a message. From Kihyun.” He clears his throat again, then holds up a notecard and begins to sing. “Happy happy Valentine’s day, from Ki to Yoo...”

It is one of the most awkward things that Jooheon has witnessed in his life - not at all helped by the fact he can _feel_ Minhyuk’s building rage next to him. By the time Hyunwoo finishes (he only sang a few verses, thank god) Minhyuk growls, “How much did Kihyun pay you for this.”

Hyunwoo looks a bit like he’d like to disappear into the floor. He sighs, “He brought me my favorite food and asked really nicely.”

Minhyuk slams his hands onto the table and stands up, determination burning in his eyes. “That’s it. I’m calling in Changkyun.”

* * *

Jooheon stares disbelievingly at Minhyuk. They’re holed up in the teacher’s lounge now, the shrieks of children during recess wafting in from outdoors. Changkyun, the college kid their friend group had somehow adopted as their collective son, is sitting in the corner, playing games on his phone and ignoring both of them.

“Um.” Jooheon begins, “I’m like. Really sure that Valentine’s day isn’t supposed to be a competition.”

“That’s exactly what he wants you to think,” Minhyuk says through gritted teeth as he furiously slathers “I ♡ KIHYUN” onto the gigantic cake in bright pink icing.

“Changkyun, _please_ back me up here-”

“I’m just here to be the delivery boy and to collect bribes, my dude.” Changkyun says, not looking up from his phone. “I’m not gonna say a word.”

* * *

By the time the school day ends, Minhyuk seems about ready to explode from the sheer competitive energy that is radiating off him in waves.

Of course, the work day ending doesn’t mean that the competition has ended. This becomes abundantly clear as Minhyuk and Jooheon make their way out of the school out onto the grounds to go home.

“What’s going on over there?” Jooheon asks, squinting at the school’s gate where a number of people seem to have gathered.

Minhyuk doesn’t look up from his phone, where he has been furiously scrolling through a number of websites that Jooheon can only assume are titled along the lines of “Cute and cheesy things to do for your loved one on Valentine’s Day!” “Don’t know, don’t care,” Minhyuk grumbles. “Need revenge.”

“Christ Minhyuk, this isn’t life or death-”

“You don’t know that.”

Jooheon lets a hissing breath out through his teeth, mentally counting to ten to try to regain his composure. “Okay, Minhyuk, listen to me, _yes_ I do know that, this stupid competition of yours is getting out of hand-”

“What’s going on up there?” Minhyuk says suddenly, pointing at the aforementioned crowd of people with narrowed eyes. As they’ve approached, the group seems to have taken notice and are clearly watching them while pretending they’re not.

“I literally pointed them out two seconds ago,” Jooheon complains. “I have no idea, I just want to go _home_ and get away from this madness-”

“They’re watching us,” Minhyuk interrupts, squinting suspiciously at the crowd. “Why are they watching us.”

“How the _fuck_ am I supposed to know-”

With little to no warning, music starts playing - someone in the crowd must have been concealing a speaker, somehow - and the crowd begins to shuffle into what is clearly _rehearsed positions_ as the music continues and they begin.....dancing?

_I wanna love you baby, let me sing for you -_

If Minhyuk’s rage levels were high before, at this point they were through the roof.

“How long has he been planning this,” Minhyuk says, voice flat and emotionless in a way that lets Jooheon know that he is, actually, furious. “He had to get it all together. Plan this. Get people to practice. _How long.”_

“Minhyuk, I need you to calm down-”

“I need to go home right now.” Minhyuk says, “I need to fistfight that motherfucker. Romantically. I’ll sweep him off his goddamn feet.”

_“What does that even mean-”_

Before Jooheon can get anything resembling a reply, Minhyuk is gone.

Changkyun materializes next to Jooheon and says, “They’re really something, aren’t they?”

Jooheon shakes his head and claps Changkyun on the shoulder. “If they don’t kill each other first, I will kill Minhyuk.”

“And I will continue to collect the bribes.” Changkyun says solemnly. “Wanna get bubble tea?”

“Fuck yeah.”

* * *

Kihyun is calmly making dinner in the kitchen when Minhyuk all but kicks the door open, screeching _“YOO KIHYUN”_ at the top of his lungs.

“Welcome home, dear,” Kihyun says, maintaining an air of nonchalance and not as if he’d just declared romantic war.

Minhyuk stalks up to the stove, standing with barely an inch separating the two of them as he stares intently at Kihyun.

Kihyun’s facade is beginning to crack as he says, “Something wrong, darling?”

“Don’t call me ‘darling’ after declaring a romance war after you _specifically promised_ you wouldn’t go overboard this year.”

“But I didn’t go overboard,” Kihyun says sweetly. “Me going overboard would be much, _much_ more dramatic-”

_“You literally organized a flash mob-”_

“Besides,” Kihyun says, finally turning to face Minhyuk (who was still uncomfortably close to him), “That was all just to mess with you, you know. I still need to give you your real gift.”

Minhyuk freezes, jaw dropping open a bit. “Real gift?” He shakes his head a bit and narrows his eyes once again. “That was all to _mess with me?”_

“The flowers were, at least.” Kihyun clarifies. “The rest was because you kept retaliating, bastard.”

_“The flash mob-”_

“The flash mob was revenge for the exploding glitter box on my birthday.”

Minhyuk narrows his eyes and glares at Kihyun for a moment before finally saying, very slowly, “That’s......fair.”

“Besides,” Kihyun says, moving into the living room and retrieving a box from under the couch, “We wouldn’t be us if we didn’t pull this shit every year.”

Minhyuk, finally relaxing, huffs a bit before saying, “Yeah, life would be a bit boring if we just did the dumb normal couple stuff, wouldn’t it? We gotta live up to our title of the Scorpio bitch twins.”

“You bet your ass,” Kihyun says, laughing. “Here’s your gift, by the way.”

Minhyuk rolls his eyes and takes the gift out of Kihyun’s hands, weighing it a bit before starting to tear at the paper. “Is this one of your photos-oh.”

He stops, staring. In his hands is a painting - a painting of a whale, his favorite animal, swimming through a starry sky.

“I got it commissioned,” Kihyun says, his nonchalant bravado from earlier gone and replaced with a tender, almost nervous smile. “You said it’s your favorite animal, right?”

“It is,” Minhyuk says almost soundlessly. He turns to Kihyun, eyes wide. “This is for me?”

“Of course it is,” Kihyun says, eyes softening. “Do you like it?”

“Do I like it- Kihyun, oh my god, I love it!” Minhyuk squeals, launching himself at Kihyun to wrap him in a giant hug (with the painting in one hand high above - can’t risk damaging it). After a moment, he gasps, jerking away from the embrace to run into the bedroom, shrieking, “I got you something too, hold on!”

He can hear Kihyun’s laughter behind him as he rummages around the bottom of the closet (good laughter, happy laughter, laughter that makes his heart bubble with affection) before he tears back into the living room, skidding to a stop with his own gift, rather shoddily wrapped, held out in his hands. “For you.”

Kihyun’s eyebrows raise as he takes the gift in his hands, turning it over. “Nice wrapping job.”

“Shut up and open it, asshole.”

Kihyun laughs again, and Minhyuk’s heart squeezes as he unwraps the gift. When the frame is visible, Kihyun’s hands still as he takes in the photos arranged, in careful sequence. “These are-”

“I’m not a photographer like you, but I thought, um, that I’d put something together.” Minhyuk says awkwardly. “Uh, these are all pictures I took. Important moments.” Minhyuk shuffles over to where Kihyun is standing and begins pointing out individual photos. “This one is from our first date, and this was a selfie that we took on the bridge when you told me you loved me for the first time. Um, this picture wasn’t from anything specific but the moment felt important, and this one-”

Minhyuk’s rambling is interrupted when Kihyun turns and pulls him in for a kiss. “I love it,” he says when they finally break apart. “This is amazing, I love it. I love _you.”_

Minhyuk’s smile feels so wide it begins to hurt his face. “I love you too, asshole.”

He pauses for a moment, then adds, “I’m totally going to outdo you next year on Valentine’s day, by the way.”

“You can fucking try.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> hi yell about mx and kihyuk with me  
> (also the flash mob song was definitely amen but you didn't hear that from me)
> 
> tumblr: minhyukielee  
> twitter: @betafish_bebe  
> curiouscat: betamaz


End file.
